Peer into the world of oysters at new show at Greenwich's Bruce Museum

Christina Hennessy

Published 10:55 am, Thursday, November 14, 2013

Childe Hassam's "Oyster Sloop, Cos Cob, an oil on canvas, is among the art, artifacts, objects, video, interactive displays and other items that make up the exhibition, "Oysters, Pearls of Long Island Sound," which is at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Conn., until March. National Gallery of Art/Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection
Photo: Contributed Photo

Childe Hassam's "Oyster Sloop, Cos Cob, an oil on canvas, is among...

The Eastern oyster is the star of the show at "Oysters, Pearls of Long Island Sound," which recently opened at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Conn. For more information, visit www. brucemuseum.org.
Photo: Contributed Photo

The Eastern oyster is the star of the show at "Oysters, Pearls of...

The oyster fleet heads out to the beds off Bridgeport, Conn., in 1941. Oyster cultivation has long been an important industry to Connecticut. An exhibition at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Conn., looks at the history of oysters, their life cycle and their importance to the environment and economic systems. Milford Laboratory Photo Archive
Photo: Contributed Photo

For the museum's "Oysters, Pearls of Long Island Sound," the show's curators have created an exhibition packed with information about the Eastern oyster, which is native to Long Island Sound, as well as the other bivalves (a class of mollusks that have at two-part, hinged shell) by utilizing objects in the museum's collections, as well as those on loan. One learns how oysters serve as natural filters, provide food for a variety of species and maintain a more stable habitat since they tend to help with erosion control.

The exhibition leaves very few shells unturned.

"I knew oysters were important historically," said Cynthia Ehlinger, the show's co-curator. "But I didn't know much about their life cycle, which I found quite fascinating."

Oysters begin as trochophores, hours-old larvae making their way in the sea world. If their journey is successful, they will end the day as veligers, with a complete set of internal organs and about 15 days to become the oyster they were meant to be. If they reach such a milestone, the next step will be finding a surface upon which to cement themselves.

"They will be there for the rest of their lives, until something comes along and knocks them off," Ehlinger said.

That "something" could be anything, including a human hand, an oyster drill, a parasite, a bacterium or the American oyster catcher.

Information also is on hand about the tools that have helped maritime farmers cultivate one of the more lucrative crops of Long Island Sound. The walls also reveal art that has documented the technology and workers needed for this industry, such as American artist Childe Hassam's "Oyster Sloop, Cos Cob" from 1902. It shows one of the more enduring vessels that brought oyster fishermen to their catch. There also are studies from American artist Alexander Rummler, who lived in Norwalk and Stamford, which eventually served to shape the artist's vision when it came to several Works Project Administration murals of workers in an oyster plant. One of those works, "Shucking Oysters," is in the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk.

Kathleen D'Aquila, the Bruce Museum's manager of school and tour services, as well as the show's co-curator, said she has long known that Long Island Sound had a vibrant oyster industry, but that she was still surprised to learn more about this unassuming "gem." For instance, she said many of the same tools used by the commercial fishermen who enjoyed the record harvests at the industry's peak (the late-19th to early-20th century) are still in use today.

One also learns how oysters have been a crucial part of the human experience since prehistoric times, including their importance to Native Americans, whose massive middens, or garbage heaps, of large shells have shown that oysters have long been part of the menu.

The species' diversity is noteworthy, as oysters are found the world over and in all sizes and shapes. From the flat tree oyster, weighing in at about the size of a human thumbnail to the Giant Honeycomb, which commands a whole lot more real estate, these bivalves have taken on many different looks. As for the coveted pearls, not every oyster makes the incandescent gems that adorn necks, fingers and wrists or serve as material for inlays.

The exhibit is sponsored in part by the Greenwich Shellfish Commission, which is a nod to the power that oysters hold over the economic and environmental balance to the community. Active beds off Greenwich's shore continue to serve professionals and recreational harvesters to this day.

Roger Bowen, who is a member of the commission, was on a recent tour of the exhibition. He expressed his hope that visitors would come out to learn more about the creatures who manage to keep the water they inhabit cleaner than the way they found it.

"A three-inch oyster (the adult Eastern oyster) can filter 50 to 100 gallons of water a day," Bowen said.

It is the kind of information that will be a part of a lecture series and family events that are associated with the exhibition that runs through March 23. The next one is Tuesday, Nov. 19, when Inke Sunila from Connecticut's Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Aquaculture discusses the oysters' future in a changing environment.

If all this talk about oysters has you hungry, don't worry, there will be time for that, too.

"There will be lots of opportunities to try oysters," D'Aquila added.

A full list of lectures and events is available at the Bruce Museum's website, brucemuseum.org.